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Reviews
Star Trek: Picard: Disengage (2023)
Please increase the pace
This episode felt like five minutes of story that has been stretched out into a full episode. Nothing in this one added anything to what was already obvious in the first episode. The only thing that this one added was the introduction of Worf for a brief few seconds. Perhaps this is what this season is all about, introducing a ST-TNG character every episode. Hopefully though, the next episode will increase the pace somewhat and get the story moving, otherwise it looks like it may been presented as a singe episode form the old days stretched out to ten episodes now. I think there's potential for this to be the better of the three seasons but we'll see.
Without Remorse (2021)
It was Ok
Nothing original in this movie, but it was OK easy watch. I've not read the book, but I did look up the synopsis afterwards and don't know why they didn't keep to the book.
Tiny World (2020)
Overall a great series
Overall this was great, but my one annoyance, and this seems to be happening in quite a lot of nature documentaries, is the unnecessary and unrealistic sound effects. For example in this series, the sound effect of the tomato ripening or the chameleon eyes moving. I just wish they'd stop doing it.
Positives however were the photography, music and narration, all fantastic and made for a great series.
Elephant (2020)
Great cinematography, awful narration
The narration ruined it for me. This is not anything against Markle, but the use of an actor to narrate a nature documentary. Very few are able to do it, and seem to want to "act" their lines, rather than just read the script and let the animals be the stars.
Also don't like these documentaries trying to humanise animal behaviour. They're amazing as it is.
Designated Survivor (2016)
Started great, then went downhill by season 3
Overall I've rated this as 5/10 for all three, but would give season 1 8/10 and season 2 6/10, with a 4/10 for season 3
Season 1 was really good, and the stories well written with good likeable characters. From season 2 though, things started to go downhill and some of the things that I thought were just a bit annoying:
1. All the things the President went through in season 1 (which is only added to in season 2), had this been reality, he'd have been hailed the greatest President of all time and any challenge to him would have been difficult. It just comes across as lazy writing for the narrative to be all about how inexperienced he is all the time, despite constantly overcoming the impossible.
2. Kirkman - far too principled throughout season 1 and 2, and almost all of the final season. Any normal person would have been far more pragmatic much quicker.
3. Hannah Wells - really liked the character, but seriously, she is like the Swiss Army knife of federal agents, appearing to be the only person capable of doing anything, whether that is investigation, interrogation, debrief of a defector, covert missions behind enemy lines. Despite everything she has accomplished, she's still gets dismissed out of hand by superiors. Then to top it off, the way they kill her off in season 3 just seemed wrong.
4. I agree with other comments, in that season 3 was more 'political', and while it raises good social issues, they was it was done, again felt like the writes were being lazy and forced, rather than fitting in as a natural part of the story line.
The Elephant Queen (2018)
Good overall, but annoying sound effects
Overall this was good, narration was really good and so to was the photography. The one bit I did find annoying, which detracted from the documentary som what was some of the dumb sound effects e.g. helicopter sounds when following a beetle flying, or the 1950 sound effect of punching added to beetles fighting. To me, it was totally unnecessary.